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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/SeventhMovement|Seventh Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[ADanceOfAngels]] |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | | |
| − | == Zero Hour ==
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| − | The Sanctum of Aryan.<br>
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| − | Northern God of Cats.
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| − | Together with Levana, the Sorrowful Rain, one of the two Directional Gods who make Spire their home. Due to the Prayer circuit within Spire, that amplifies prayers and power so greatly... the same circuit now perverted by Calobis to bring about the murder of a whole city at once. The Shades of Eventide seek to stop him. And so far, they have gone through a lot.
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| − | One of the temples have been broken, exploded. The Virdynn, Aryan’s personal guard turned to the dark side, have been taken out with it. Bouki, Calobis’ pet and spider chariot has gone to Archren, one of the most powerful figures on Spire and a Geomancer of legendary skill, and tried to use her to connect all the prayer lines in Spire once again, but was stopped by the Child of Wyld Days. That was minutes ago, while the Shades of Eventide came to Aryan’s temple.
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| − | | |
| − | In front of his temple, they fought a hundred and one opponents.<br>
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| − | The Fangs of Bouki, Calobis’ elite. The Eye of Sorrow, his apprentice.<br>
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| − | And they vanquished a hundred and one opponents.
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| − | | |
| − | Within, Moon had brought a score to heel.<br>
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| − | And his bark had chased away two scores more.
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| − | | |
| − | A hundred, three scores and one had put themselves in their way, and had been taken out.
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| − | | |
| − | And now, they rush within the temple... and beyond, within the very home of the cat god.
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| − | Elizabeth Holysword, the Blood Angel.<br>
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| − | Kanti no Freville, the Garda Bird.<br>
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| − | And Alexander Holysword...<br>
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| − | ... who looks so very uncomfortable on his dress.
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| − | Through all of their trials, they entered the spirit door, and Kanti, Elizabeth and Alex walk into Aryan's sanctum. Before them, the great road to the cat's palace, a shining jewel over his intricate hunting grounds... the great darkened wood about them. Of course, there is nothing to hunt... except for the birds that fill the air about the palace, now shining in a pall of red... the center of the ritual.
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| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' "So, following dogboy's plan, the next step is... lemme see... Oh yeah, smash stuff-- same as the last three steps. So--" she points with the monstrous double-scythe of ruby that doesn't really ''have'' a sing point to point with, "--onward to the secluded shiny forest slash kitty playpen slash crow's nest. I'm sure Avia will find us-- so stay behind me, all of you."
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| − | '''Alexander: ''' "Well... assuming they have not already done so... our best bet is to just storm that palace, right?"
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| − | "Do not worry, sister..." He smiles. "I am stronger than I look."
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| − | | |
| − | And so he darts, past the treetops, stopping by nothing until he gets to the castle... Ainerach glowing like a second sun, as if it was gathering strength from the air around it... a strength discharged on the Palace's doors, breaking them down with a sound not unlike that of thunder. And from within, comes the scarlet light of the ritual... and something else, striking at the Prince, sending him flying through the canopy of trees, breaking a few of them as he falls... and on the open door of the Palace - one only used by guests, really, as Aryan would always jump to its many balconies from the trees - the Redrum-king appears, flaming sword in hand, standing solemn as the guardian of the gate.
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' The Crimson Guard, Redrum King and Lord of all Massacre stood in front of the doors.
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| − | | |
| − | Within came the light of the ritual.
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| − | The fallen angel that was Alexander Holysword begun to get up fromt he trees, trying to straighten his halo.
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| − | | |
| − | The flaming skull made no sound. None but the crackling of its flames, as it watched the siblings and Kanti.<br>
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| − | It would not move.
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| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Elizabeth walks up behind Alex "Stealth" she intones boredly, looking up at the king of the burning dead. "One--secret, clandestine, or surreptitious procedure. Two-- a furtive departure or entrance. There will be a pop quiz at the end of the god-killing, Alex."
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti had been silent for a moment as she had stepped into the sanctum, no stranger to them certainly having visited them across the length and breadth of Creation, along and with Him. But this ... this was ''wrong''. She could feel it and this was what silenced her. This was what made her quake at the heart of her being ... and then she stilled herself, a meditation of battle, the seventh posture of the saint.<br>
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| − | ''I am a knight of heaven. ''<br>
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| − | ''I am a spear saint. ''<br>
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| − | ''I am Kanti. ''
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| − | | |
| − | And then she stepped up beside Alex, a beautific smile on her face, a cloud of irises painted red blowing across her visition as she looked up at the lord of all massacre.
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| − | ''It is time to dance once more. ''
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| − |
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| − | Kanti looked up at the lord, and then spun her spear in her hand and started her dance towards him, weaving between the crimson blossoms blowing in the breeze through the sanctum, for a knight of heaven does not sully herself with corruption.
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| − | | |
| − | As she reaches him, she leaps up high trailing a haze of sweet smoke behind her, reached the apex of her jump and then flipped to stab at him as she fell, landing with a flourish and a brief martial pose, regaining her balance and then flowing through the motions of a fresh dance, one with a shining red tipped blade than flows through the Redrum's guard.
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| − |
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' Above the Guard, the Saint comes. She is mercy. He is mercilessness. She is life. He is death.
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| − | The spirit-king raised his eyeless flaming skull, and looked at the coming saint... and his fire seemed to find a kinship in Kanti's... flling her vision with it... seeing her murders. Her hands begun to feel wet with Sarah's blood. Her spear, too slick to be held with the blood of Amaranthyne's child, that great hero of Whiteshield she had dispatched.
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| − | | |
| − | And on her ears, the crackling of the fire...
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| − | ''Murderer... Murderer... Murderer... ''
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| − | | |
| − | But it was not enough to stop her, and so, the blood-blade moved up, sanguine fire against Kanti's spear...
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| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Elizabeth darts in front of Alex and Kanti in front of her dances faster still-- though she seems to falter a bit. Elizabeth would not falter. Not in front of Alex. She did not desire this thing's death so much as she did Avia's, but she would do what she had to. Blood cold as the rivers of the underworld flowed through her veins-- was that Acheron, or was she really that heartless? Again, it didn't matter, all she could do was her best.
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| − | The twisted shards of ruby and black iron cut through the air as Elizabeth brings it to bear on the burning dead, following through with the opposite side once, twice and again as she half-dances, half-hacks in what seems almost an cheap but vicious unintentional mockery of the pure Dragon Blood's style.
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' The flames lick over the edge of his blade, as Elizabeth comes... and as the blade meets against Elizabeth's weapon, and each time it strikes, Elizabeth sees a flash... she sees Daedrin... she sees him hurting... she sees the tentacles... she sees the knives... the castle wall coming over her... him... and the voice, Daedrin's voice in the clashes... ''Monster. Murderer. Monster. '''Murderer! ''' ''
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| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' ''Monster? ''<br>
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| − | ''Murderer? ''<br>
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| − | ''Liar? ''<br>
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| − | ''Betrayer? ''
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| − | Elizabeth hesitates, falters... It's all true... but she can't let it get in the way of protecting Alex.
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| − | | |
| − | ...but it does.
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' .... and it stops any and all strikes.
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| − | | |
| − | In the end, he is alone there, the sanguine sparks all over him... and untouched. Untouched by the Saint, Untouched by the Monster.
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| − | It seems to grin, but it is a skull... it always seems to. Without eyes, without skin, without expression... just the flames, just the flames, sparkling murder to them. It looks at the girls... Kanti and Elizabeth, looking for all of their weak spots... The Neck. The Heart. And then, it explodes in a flurry of motion, each strike going to a vital spot, two against each of them, once to sever each part of their life.
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| − | From the blood of Elizabeth, droplets fall on the blade... as the Redrum cuts over her chest. And the droplets of blood become little birds, little dead birds of blood with Elizabeth's face... coming to the Redrum Lord's mouth, his jaw closing over them... eating the little birds, rejuvenated by the Lunar blood!
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| − | | |
| − | '''Alexander: ''' The prince gets up, painfully... brushing splinters of wood off his body. He sees the ladies moving, moving with blinding speed he could never, ever, hope to match... and missing. He sees the man striking... and cutting both in a single swipe. Obsecenly drinking their essence... what made the Prince angry. Very, very angry. And then, Kanti struck back.
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| − | | |
| − | And tore part of the creature away.
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| − | | |
| − | It was an opening... and he took it, letting his anima grow into white flames, burning the black wood about him, surrounding him in its fire... and making Ainerach glow white-hot. He looked at his foe...
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| − | | |
| − | ... and saw the skull looking back at him.
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| − | | |
| − | And he saw himself... he saw his blade going into the priest... that wet sound. The blood, so hot, and then so cold. So... wet. His eyes, life vanishing from it... that moment of death.... making him close his eyes. Yes, he had killed. Yes, he would forever remember his face...
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| − | | |
| − | ''.. but nothing would stop him from saving his sister and lady! ''
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| − | | |
| − | And yet, he had to close his eyes... throwing the sword blindly. Trusting the white flame to guide it... as the Crimson Guard tried to simply bat it away with its blade.
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' The Crimson Guard still stands.
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| − | | |
| − | Effortlessly, the Sanguine Blade had stopped Ainerach and its flames.
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| − | It moved between two of the deadliest ladies of the North, drawing their blood, barely hurt.
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| − | The Crimson Guard stood his ground, and none could take a step past him.
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| − | And those who dared to approach could only die.
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| − | His skull flamed, and each flicker of the flame showed a different murder.
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| − | Blood dripped from his hands, blood from a thousand victims. But not the blood from the ladies in front of him... those, those burnt out on the flames, becoming his power, becoming his health. They would not pass, as he drank their own health. They would not pass. He was not Sondok, protector of Gateways. What he did was to destroy, not protect. But he was guarding the source for ultimate destruction... and that made the dark spirit sure - it would stop them, it would guard, so slaughter could happen.
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| − | Ainerach came back to the Prince's hands... and the Crimson Guard made a flourish.
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| − | It was their moment, once again.<br>
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| − | To try.<br>
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| − | To fail.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti danced away from him for the moment, holding her spear firmly into too hands, considering the lord of massacre before her, cold and implaccable within, burning with a thousands deaths outside.
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| − | Then the wind blew again and it was time to move again and so move she did, dancing through though the space between them, movements precise and graceful, despite the burning wound in side, not letting it touch her dance, entending her spear past the sword, though the Guard's defences, dancing around him at the edge of his reach, trying to keep her distance.
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' She was graceful. And the thing could appreciate her great, her beauty. It was not beyond appreciating such things. It was, however, beyond caring. It did not. It looked at something beautiful. It understood its beauty. And its first thought was, how to murder it. How to make it bleed. How to place its mark upon its bleeding corpse. And thus, it moves together with her dance... not without grace, itself, but a deadly grace, not hindered by appreciation of beauty... but instead, fueled by it, wishing to murder this beauty...
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| − | | |
| − | ... and in her dance, she strikes through his defenses! They cut his black cloth, a great impact sending bone splinters flying... and throwing the Lord of Massacre back, up the stairs to the temple... opening great wings of bone to stop its flight, landing... right before the portal. It grunts, knowing there would be pain, but feeling none. And it rises... they would not pass.
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| − |
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| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Elizabeth's chest burns where she is cut, blood wets the ground, but she doesn't notice. Her mind is preoccupied by the visions of Daedrin. ''It's not my fault! He made me do it! I didn't have a choice! '' Blood on her hands drips down the twisted haft of Sunset Lament and onto the floor-- his blood. She notices '''that''' and the weapon clatters to the ground.
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| − |
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' The Lord of Massacre looks upon Elizabeth... and its hollow eyes are the images of all the pain... all the blood. It sees the blood dripping... and it knows. It knows its own kind. It knows. what she is. She ''knows'' is smiles now... it smiles, because they are one of a kind. One and the same. Murderers. Their hands are soaked in blood, only his' burn. She can almost hear it whispering... whispering to join all the Bloody Hands in it. As she is filthy like one...
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| − | | |
| − | ... but she is of no concern, and it turns. It turns to Kanti.
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| − | It fixes on her with its death's head grin... and offers her an empty, skeletal hand.
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| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' While Elizabeth stands preoccupied by the blood on her hands, she is passed over-- not a threat, apparently. ''No, I can't let anyone else get hurt! '' The burning dead strikes at Kanti, but his Sanguine Blade meets only-- flesh. But it's Elizabeth's flesh-- so that's okay. She grips the blade with her hands, holding it, while tendrils of moonlight wrap themselves around the burning dead, grasping to keep him from hurting the girl. ''I am a murderer, yes, and killing is how I attone for it. That's life. ''
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' ... but it did not touch the Fire Aspect. But the Lunar, whom, even hurt by his fingers... did not move.
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| − | And nearly, nearly held him. But the fingers are slick with their blood-flames, retreating back into a hand, as it stares are her....
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| − | ... and links its fingers, savoring the Lunar blood coating it.
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| − | He would go after her first, next time.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' The first thing Moon noted as he came through the doorway of the sanctum was that the sound didn't carry. It was a strange sensation. One moment, to be in the middle of a thundering rain of falling stones and timbers, the crash of it almost deafening, and then next... to ''not'' be.
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| − | The second thing he noted was that while the sound seemed inclined to stay out, the dust had no problem chasing him in. He'd been diving to get out of the temple before the whole thing fell in on his head it was amazing what a few shattered support walls could do to a place and as he came rolling through the doorway a wave of filthy air chocking with powdered stone and small debris rolled in behind him.
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| − | Moon coughed loudly, rising back to his feet. He shook, arms flapping and hands slapping, trying to get as much of the dust out of his fur as he could.
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| − | "''SHIT'', that was fun!" he crowed exuberantly, ignoring the battle unfolding before him. "Should'a seen the way the place went down! Like a fuckin' card house! 'oughta figure a cat temple be a piece of shit construction. Lazy fuckers can't be bothered ta do nothin' that ain't groomin'. Look, even got a fuckin' memento."
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| − | Moon held up his hand, showing off the shattered half-head of a feline statue. White Dog was in his other hand, glass tongue flopped out of it's mouth as it panted excitedly. "Gonna put this fucker up on the wall'a the Boil. Upside down."
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| − | He tucked both cat and dog heads into the pockets of his coat, then pulling back out the twisted paper roll of a cigarette. Moon leaned down and scrapped the tip of his finger across the floor of the sanctum, scratching deep and draw sparks until one caught the tip of his smoke. Unhurriedly, he popped it between his lips and took a long, luxurious drag on it and sighed it contentedly out his nose. ''Finally'', he looked around, his gaze pointedly skipping over Alex and lifting upwards towards the Crimson Guard.
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| − | | |
| − | "'nother one'a these fuckers?" he asked no one in particular. He huffed, spitting his cigarette out onto the ground and stopping it out. "A'ite, lets kill some people."
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| − | '''Alexander: ''' "Moon!" His face lights up...
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| − | | |
| − | .. and then blanks. "We.. um. We haven't been very successful... that guy is not letting us pass..."
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti blinked as there was a spray of blood but no pain and then she saw Liz, impaled on his arm.
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| − | ''...that blow was meant for me. ''
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| − | | |
| − | ''...thank you. ''
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| − | ''...I wish you hadn't taken it. ''
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| − | ''But moon is here! ''
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| − | And then she runs up the steps, leaving white irises that were soon dyed red by the ritual in her wake as she approached the murder lord once more, apprehensive still for the visions he would show her as she attacked, but moving still.
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| − | They weren't so much compared to the things she would see if she slept.
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| − | The speartip shone white with the tremendous power she unleashed with each of the thrusts past his defences, backflipping down the stairs after she delivered the blows, trying to avoid his hungry blade.
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| − |
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' Struck back, gritting his teeth....
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| − | The saint lives still. He is outnumbered, and he may not win. He realises it. But he has to stand his ground. To be the Guard of the Crimson Gate. To guard it well... to stand his ground. For in moments, the essence behind him would rise.... and then...
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| − | | |
| − | ... and then it broke.
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| − | All of the windows in the palace exploding, an earthquake ripping the sky and the ground in the Sanctum! The trees broke, caught fire, the Palace trembled... and the Necromancy faltered, splinters of shadow coming from within the great palace... and the Crimson Guard looked within the Palace... and for the first time, it looked scared. Uncertain. Moon had broken the temple, and now....
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| − | | |
| − | ... the ritual was faltering.
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| − | But still, if there was one chance to keep it...
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| − | And for that chance, it lashed foward, to strike the women, to kill her, to buy time....
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| − | Breaking his own blade. Breaking it into a million of liquid fiery blood shards, filling the air as they struck both the Lunar and the Dragoness, the greatest strike of his blade, the Battallion-Crushing Shards!
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| − |
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti looked up.<br>
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| − | Kanti saw him raise his sword.<br>
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| − | Kanti saw him break his sword.<br>
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| − | Kanti saw him start to hurl.
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| − | Kanti looked up at him with eyes that understood the most important facts of creation and was unafraid.
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| − | Kanti leaned forward, and spoke.<br>
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| − | Kanti leaned forward, and asked.<br>
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| − | Kanti leaned forward, and waited.
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| − | | |
| − | For the answer to the King of Wu's question.
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| − | '''The Crimson Guard: ''' So far, none of Kanti's tricks worked.
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| − | Kanti called for Compassion. The Lord fo Massacre has none. It does not speak. It does not communicate. It does not mingle.
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| − | It kills. It kills, and it is all it exists for. For murder. For slaughter.
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| − | | |
| − | But still, it thinks. It thinks. And it can reason.
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| − | | |
| − | And it sees the question. A question for which....
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| − |
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| − | .... a question for which he had no answer.
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| − | A question that made him stop.
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| − | A question that scattered the shards, as they struck neither women.
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| − | | |
| − | And the Lord of Massacre was confused.
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| − | '''Seventh Moon: ''' "A'ite, none'a that shit," he growled at the Crimson Guard, leaping off the ground towards it's back. "I ain't too fuckin' keen on princess priss there, but I like you fucks a ''whole'' lot less."
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| − | Thing was taller than he was. If he tried to hold it traditionally, he'd have no leverage. No foothold on the ground. So he twisted in the air and slammed into the redrum sideways. Moon's limbs snaked around it's arms, drawing tight as band of iron as he pulled back, bending himself nearly in half to drag it's arms backwards. Moon wrapped his hand around one finger on the redrums hand and pulled it back sharply. Hard enough to rip it off a real person and he knew these things felt pain enough that it would still smart something awful.
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| − | | |
| − | He knew how this would go. Eventually there would be a real sick pop; either his back going or it's shoulders. But he was betting on his being more flexible than it was. Selina and Iria could probably both atest to that.
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| − | | |
| − | Fuck all if he was going to be fair about it though.
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| − | Moonlight shivered around him. ''He'' shivered, his whole body tightening as new threads of muscle and sinew burrowed through the layers already under his skin. The strength of the moon, the ''overwhelming'' strength of it, worked to bend the damn thing until it's arms snapped in half.
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| − | '''Alexander: ''' The energy begun to gather on the glass dome above the palace... begun to coalesce again.
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| − | The Crimson Guard was held by Moon.
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| − | ''The Path is Free! ''
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| − | Alex dashes foward, flying directly above the stairway... now that the creature is not around anymore, a creature he had seen sprout wings... he swoops down, and picks Kanti, whispering to her... "Kanti. I need you to save Aryan. I will have to stop this... it... it may go bad. But make sure you get the God out of here. And stop this if I cannot." He flies directly above the gate, leaving her on one of the balconies... and rushes upward... directly overhead the Palace... over the gathering Necromancy....
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| − | Ahead of Kanti, the fight behind of her, she sees a great corridor leading to the main hall... where unearthly lights float, upward, where the Prince had gone... and she ses birds flying. So many brinds begin to sing, breaking out of the few windows still standing...
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''...Moon! ''
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| − | ''....Alex ... it can't go bad! ''
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| − | ''...You can't die! ''
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| − | "Y..yes, my prince." she says as the looks nervously after him flying then concentrates, running forward, leaving a trail of irises that blossom red and then burn in her flames, into the heart of the sanctum of the god.
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| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Seeing Alex off again, and crushingly unable to do anything against the burning dead when every thought was fraught with pain and guilt, Elizabeth follows. ''Well... '' Elizabeth thinks pointedly, ''I guess the Dog-Lunar is good for something. ''
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| − | '''Narrator: ''' The Central Hall of the Feline God's Palace.
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| − | All of its treasures scattered about, watched so delightfully by birds, so fascinated by its beautiful shine. Feline jewels and sculptures broken and desecrated. The corpses of cats littering the room, forming a sacrificial circle about the center of the room... from whence the necromantic energies pour forth.
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| − | A large hall of a palace, the bird-goddess feeling it... all of her birds on watch. Truth be told, they notice the Dragon-Blooded. The Bird-Goddess turned... discarding her form. Kanti saw her eyes... her eyes, shining silver. Shining silver as the birds flocked to her, forming a body as they chirped together...
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| − | | |
| − | ... and above her, his body slashed and pecked by so many birds, is the feline god.
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| − | Now but a shadow of his former self...
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| − | Hanging on chains, its hooks piercing divine flesh, draining his power... soulsteel chains, holding him, feeding the ritual. With the essence of one of many Spire gods, the ritual to bring about its end. And the one presiding over the ritual... he turns, and sees Kanti as well.
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| − | Tall, a body that looks not unlike a natural armor... black and white, dotted with rubies of red that blink as though they were eyes. A creature unique in all of Creation, and beyond. A creature wielding the power of the Neverborn themselves. Wishing death to a city for them. He looks up, and he is serene. Kanti hears legends from him. A creature of webs of relationships. A courtier of eternity. Destroyed, turned to a courtier of death. Beautiful and alien.
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| − | Spinning the webs of relationships together, tying all of Spire...<br>
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| − | ....and connected to them, killing all within.
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| − | Kanti sees him, and he is unlike the Crimson Guard. She feels the compassion that radiates from him... and she knows that with that, he will destroy all. He understands. He touches. He speaks. And yet, he does not care. There is a void in him where care should be... his feelings, his compassion, turned into something only the Neverborn could understand. He is a walking rift in the wheel, in more ways than one.
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| − | And he sees her.
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| − | And as he looks at her... she can feel the Necromancy about him.
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| − | Everywhere.
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| − | | |
| − | Alexander sees it above the Palace.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The skies break about him.
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| − | | |
| − | The clouds shift with darkness. If he looked at them, at the forms they became under Necromancy, surely he would go mad. The necromancy warped everything about them. The Palace, forming gargoyles. The birds, forming raitons. The trees, forming claws. The clouds... forming things he would rather not look. And pehaps all of them, next, he wondered?
| |
| − | | |
| − | Below, Kanti felt the Necromancy touch her... and felt at home.<br>
| |
| − | Below, Kanti felt it call to her, as if to become one with it.<br>
| |
| − | Below, Kanti felt herself be Necromancy.
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''So much destruction .... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''So many birds ... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''So many chains ... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''... and It. ''
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| − | | |
| − | She trembled at first, as he looked at her, as she began to percieve what he was, the ultimate blasphemy and nightmare he embodied, then as the necromantic spell started to weave itself into her, weave itself through her scars she relaxed at the homely feeling it represented.
| |
| − | | |
| − | That was when she almost ran. As she realised and stood their paralysed for a few precious moments.<br>
| |
| − | ''I am the darkness. ''<br>
| |
| − | ''I am an ambomination. ''<br>
| |
| − | ''I am a rift in the cycle. ''<br>
| |
| − | ''I should just .... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''NO. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''he trusts me. ''<br>
| |
| − | ''he told me. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''I will not run. ''<br>
| |
| − | ''I will not die. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | And then she shifts her pose, attaining the first and last posture of the Saint, the scars on her body temparirily wrenched from the spell in a cascade of green lightning that raced around her body. That stilled her thoughts, stilled her heart.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "I am Kanti and I am a Knight of Heaven and I am here to stop this blasphemy."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "I cannot let your abberation continue longer. You are not above the cycle."
| |
| − | | |
| − | She stood there, elegant and defiant and ready to fight, and did her best to ignore the feeling of the necromancy weaving it's way back around her.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Alexander: ''' Above, Alexander looked down at them... the Birds noticed. The birds begun to break out of the remaining windows, to fly upwards... as Avia did, breaking into so many birds, towards the Prince. Not one, not one thing to be touched, but scores upon scores of her birds, screeching...
| |
| − | | |
| − | He was surrounded by them.<br>
| |
| − | He felt his sister’s wings about him.<br>
| |
| − | He felt Avia’s power about him.<br>
| |
| − | He hoped Elizabeth could so something.<br>
| |
| − | For he could not stop.
| |
| − | | |
| − | If he did... even with this weakened spell... who could say? Pehaps the spell was truly over.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Maybe his people would not be killed anymore. But pehaps, it would still hurt them.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Who knows?
| |
| − | | |
| − | But if it was still going... it could not be good.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And outside... it was his city. His people.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And he would not let this creature touch them. Not now. Not ever.
| |
| − | | |
| − | He held Ainerach high... and it became the sun. It filled both of them in a sphere of light... gathering something. Something from the outside. Coming through the cracks of the sky, like rays of sunlight, and gathering on the Prince’s sword. They shone... the hopes and dreams of Spire. Ainerach called them like a siren song... every smile, every joy, every prayer, every dream, every child’s laughter... focusing them all with him.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Sun, let me put an end to this.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And thus, the sun the boy had became plummetted down.
| |
| − | | |
| − | To scorch the heart of darkness, or die trying.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Avia: ''' But she would not let it.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The air was taken by the cawing of her birds.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Taken by their black feathers.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Breaking out of every window, their eyes shining as she controlled them all... and forming her own body close to the prince, two great blades in the shape of wings in her hands. One Silver, One Obsidian. And at her command, the birds prepared to stop the Prince, to stop the Princess.
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Elizabeth stands in front of Alex and her skin cralws, her blood shifts uncomfortably at having her back turned to Ainerach. Sunset Lament glints in the shifting light and Elizabeth tightens her grip. "AVIA!" she screams at the top of her lungs. "You traitorous bitch!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Avia: ''' The birds stop all about her... the silver eyes intent on the princess, watching Sunset Lament. Silver eyes narrow as they look at the girl before her. Her manneirisms, her face, her eyes. All the wings open in greeting, the birds singing their sweet song, chirping her name, like they had, a lifetime ago. "... princess Elizabeth. Am I ever surprised to see you here... like that. And feeling like kin."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "I always liked you better, my royal princess. Simply stand aside, please."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "I cannot allow even you to stop our Moment."
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Part of Elizabeth wants to ask Avia why-- how she could do such a thing-- but of course, Elizabeth is familiar enough with the kinds of decisions that Avia has made. Any balking on Elizabeth's part would be hollow. "You'll have to kill me to get to Alex, Avia-- and I'm afraid that just isn't possible." ''I've tried''
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Avia: ''' "No, I will simply have to beat you until you cannot fly anymore, my dear..."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Trust me, Lunar or not, I have the power to do so now!" Wingblades appear on her hands. Many birds fly about her, forming something not unlike an anima. And in the language of birds, all of them let out her battle cry, as the Goddess of Birds of Whiteshield charges at her enemy...
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Avia charges, but Elizabeth knows her, and she knows she's faster. Avia appears before Elizabeth, and six wings of blood-spattered silk all move at once; each with the grace of all Avia's birds; each to a slightly different beat, and she all but dissapears-- a long arc of molten silver hair the only thing placing her new position above behind the Goddess.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''You taught me how to fly... ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | She hangs there inverted for the barest moment, Sunset Lament twisted and shapeless all about her like veins of raw ore in the ground-- but only the barest moment before Elizabeth twists her body and swings laterally. The black-shot veins of ruby moan as they twist into a single sheet a fraction of a second later, belatedly forming into a long-bladed toothed cleaver of crystal clear crimson ruby with a solid twisted black haft running the length of it
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''If you'd take that way, you truely are beyond hope. ''
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Avia: ''' Her essence shifts. Her wings join into six great wings on her back, not shining as they used to be, but of a muted, pale light. They open, and Avia shifts to the side, Her very essence shifting within the birds, leaving some as a sacrifice for Elizabeth, so she strikes naught but air...
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Elizabeth... my princess. All the birds that die today... they will join me! I will carve out a ''paradise'' in the land of the dead, for all their spirits! A paradise for all birds, for the aerie of Whiteshield Nobility I am gathering together in Our Secret Place. Trust me. Fighting is not the way. They are the future... ''we must use them''!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | Avia gets away only barely. She feels her flesh cut....
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Elizabeth... that hurt me. But I am stronger, no? Stronger than you realised..."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "I am the Goddess of Windia's Dark Birds as well now. And when this is over... I might lord over the whole north!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | "After I beat you... you will trust me."
| |
| − | | |
| − | The feathers swirl in front of her... the forms of raitons and crows disappearing... and then she waves, and the forms of dark crows appear, darting towards Elizabeth in a whirlwind of feathers.... not really crows, but missiles in the shape of crows, flying at the speeds of arrows... and made of pure '''Soulsteel'''!
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' "Avia, listen to yourself!" Elizabeth yells. "Rule over the north? You think the Deathlords will allow that? You think '''I''' would allow that? You're insane!" she holds her hands out, opening herself to the attack. "It doesn't matter ''how'' strong you are, Avia, there's always someone out there who'se fucking '''immortal'''!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Avia: ''' All of the birds touch Elizabeth, and do not pierce her... but push her back, forming a big prision of feathers around her, and sending her back in the air... "Rule the North's ''Birds'', Elizabeth. Like I once ruled Whiteshield's birds and flight. Only over the North. The Deathlords do not wish to meddle with birds, so I can protect them, even in the Underworld. As I can protect those that fly."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "You must be unconscious now, my dear... but know, in your blanket of feathers."
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Amaranthyne has fallen. We cannot fight. '''This is the only way! '''"
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' The birds smother Elizabeth, but thin lines of moonlight shine through as they swarm about her. As avia talks, they grow brighter and brighter, until individual birds can be seen in silhouette against the pure blinding light. "Do you think there will ''be'' birds in the Bishop's north, Avia? That they will survive when the land is as black and baren as the underworld?" Blinding light flashes, throwing the birds out into the sky, into the roof, leaving Elizabeth untouched. She has to smile, however. Avia forgot her brother...
| |
| − | | |
| − | ... and he came crashing down into the Necromancy, at long last.
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Calobis: ''' Calobis had his arms open... soaking on the power about him. He looks upon Kanti... and smiles.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The emerald sliver on his head shines, almost like a caste mark.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And the way he looks at her... like many had before. It was serene. It was not like many she had seen... it was unlike the Dead Hand, it was unlike Obsidian, it was unlike Niremar. It did not see a Fire Aspect. It did not see a Human, or a Dragonblooded. It was the expression of her former master, of her peers. He saw her as a Knight of Heaven. He saw her stance, it saw her movements. He saw all of her... and was ready.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "I know of you." He finally speaks, in a voice not unlike velvet. A beautiful voice... like a beautiful lullaby. "I know of all the harm you have done to us. All those the Dead Hand has irrevocably lost because of you. I know the mistake the Whore has made, letting you live. But that will be re..."
| |
| − | | |
| − | And then, the sun came. It crashed overhead, a lance of power over them.... it was blinding. All was light, breaking the darkness, washing the bodies of kittens and humans... and destroying all about them. the roof was coming down, the pillars blown away, the spell blown in a million pieces... for Kanti, the whole world was breaking.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And all of it came over Calobis, the feline god falling from the ceiling...
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Avia: ''' Avia looks up...
| |
| − | | |
| − | "''Yes''! See the raitons? The crows? Feel the ghost doves? They all live in the Underworld!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | "And they will serve me! And none will disobey my will!"
| |
| − | | |
| − | She says it naturally. Barely stopping to think. But when she does, she realises Elizabeth is not even hurt. At all. So, she is that sort of Lunar. That means she has to...
| |
| − | | |
| − | to...
| |
| − | | |
| − | The Prince!
| |
| − | | |
| − | She had forgotten. She let it happen. The Prince touches down.... and the spell breaks.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Behind Elizabeth, the explosion is so great it breaks the roof of the palace, it explodes all the walls, it sends Avia back through the air... lighting crackling, dark necromantic lighting breaking with holy thunder, the sky ripping.... and Avia sees her dreams breaking. All of them breaking, all around her... and her face becomes that of an angry, predatory bird.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "'''''Elliizzzabbeetthhh!!! '''''"
| |
| − | | |
| − | The great wing-blades do not cut the girl in half... but they do bite deep, Elizabeth's royal blood spilling over Avia, cutting down her neck to her heart, and from her shoulder to her ribcage, flesh rent, bone broken, under the wings. If she was a normal human, she would be barely even alive now... and few Exalts are that much stronger.
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Elizabeth Holysword: ''' Elizabeth stands her ground-- Fearless, immortal, perfect. Avia's wingblades bite deep into her silver dusted skin, cutting clear through meat and bone, but Elizabeth is stoic, determined. A black tear falls from shattered ruby eyes, but not for the pain. For Avia.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Sunset Lament had hardly moved-- nonetheless, Avia finds herself impaled on it. Black essence drips down the toothed cleaver like hot tar, and the dark side of Elizabeth's caste mark burns black and bleeds. "Ghosts aren't our future--" she whispers to the goddess, "--they're our past."
| |
| − | | |
| − | Silently, swiftly, like the passing of a bird in the woods, Elizabeth rips Sunset Lament out Avia's side, flips it, and slices the mass of birds in half veritcally, and a long metalic sigh echoes through the air.
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Like you."
| |
| − |
| |
| − | '''Avia: ''' Avia barely realises it, before her demise.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Elizabeth cuts.<br>
| |
| − | She cuts the birds.<br>
| |
| − | She cuts the essence holding the birds together.<br>
| |
| − | She cuts the idea of the goddess.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Avia screams. Her scream is on the beak of each and every bird...
| |
| − | | |
| − | As the Goddess screams, cut by Sunset Lament, which fulfills its promise...
| |
| − | | |
| − | And as she vanishes, the silver eyes look into Elizabeth, as if asking why.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And Avia is gone, with her memories... and the birds all around her feel free.
| |
| − | | |
| − | Crows,Doves and Eagles chase away the Raitons.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And as the whole sanctum collapses about them, Elizabeth hears the song of the free birds...<br>
| |
| − | ...flying in a spiral around their queen.<br>
| |
| − | Their Liberator.<br>
| |
| − | Elizabeth Holysword.<br>
| |
| − | | |
| − | But below, far below, the storm raged, Necromancy broken....
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''Alexander! My Prince! ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | She almost screamed as the holy fire coursed down her body from the ceiling, ripping the comfort of the necromancy from her, scoring lines almost as black as the necromancy itself along her skin besides the scars, punishing her for the darkness, punishing her for the anathema she carried on her skin. She barely noticed the fall, wrapped up as she was in her own private agony, the five dragons guiding her by instinct alone, kicking off the larges chunks of the temple, leaving small flowers growing from them , flowers that would crunshed unless they were lucky ... but she had no time to worry about them.
| |
| − | | |
| − | And then the burning stopped, and the world was still, the dust coiling around her, bourne up be the heat radiating off her.
| |
| − | | |
| − | She glanced over to the catgod at as he lay there, mewing oh so weakly in pain, and Calobis picking himself from the rubble, the dust sliding from him.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''And so it comes to this. ''
| |
| − | ''I must save the god and yet Calobis will not let me. ''
| |
| − | ''I must find my prince and yet Calobis will not let me. ''
| |
| − | ''I must live and yet Calobis will not let me. ''
| |
| − | ''And so it comes to this. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | "Come then, Calobis, Spinner of Ashes and Celebrant of Shadows. We must dance in the temple of another god, you and I, infinity against nothing."
| |
| − | | |
| − | ''And so it comes to this. ''
| |
| − | | |
| − | '''Calobis: ''' He raises from the rubble, covered in dust...
| |
| − | | |
| − | His form hanging low, covered in shadow, only eyes of undifferentiated white and the sliver of emerald shining towards Kanti.
| |
| − | | |
| − | His voice was still suave... but there was an undercurrent there. An undercurrent of an entity whose plans are foiled. An undercurrent of an entity of great power, ready to unleash it in all around it. An undercurrent of '''wrath'''. "Come then, Knight of Heaven. And you shall see... that I '''am'''... '''indeed'''.... above all the cycles you serve!"
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| − | | |
| − | | |
| − | | |
| − | | |
| − | ----
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| − | | |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/SeventhMovement|Seventh Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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